


Happy Endings Are for Children

by Brachylagus_fandom



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Soldiers, F/F, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Past Child Abuse, Sad with a Happy Ending, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 08:43:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6948559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brachylagus_fandom/pseuds/Brachylagus_fandom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hope, love, trust, friendship, and honesty are all for children. Ty Lee was never a child; she was a weapon. Her life is a sadder story, perhaps, but it is fulfilling nonetheless.</p><p>A history of Ty Lee, damaged acrobat extraordinaire, told in firsts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy Endings Are for Children

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thedevilchicken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedevilchicken/gifts).



> Okay, fair warning, this is pretty fucked up. Implied child soldiers, rape, war crimes, and all that jazz. Nothing explicit but the summary should give you a fair idea of what to expect.
> 
> "Love is for children", to the best of my knowledge, comes originally from Marvel's Red Room.
> 
> George is what I have dubbed foaming mouth guy in this story. Any names you don't recognize are OCs for the purpose of having named Kyoshi Warriors besides Suki.

The first time Ty Lee killed someone, she was five. He was some grunt her father had found on the battlefield, angry and big and strong but scared. He was unwilling to hurt her, as soft and sweet and innocent as she looked. That was his mistake. Pity is for children.

She vomited afterwards, earning her five strikes. She was never Father's favorite; that was Ty Lin, always had been, always would be. Ty Lin could murder in the blink of an eye and smile while she was covered in blood. She could be anyone she wanted to be at the drop of a hat. Still, Ty Lee wasn't his least favorite, at least; Ty Wu had claimed that dishonorable position and would never give it up.

The first time Ty Lee met Azula, she wanted to run for the hills and never look back. Punishment from Father would be _nothing_ compared to her mission. Still, she swallowed her fear and stepped forward, putting all the brightness she had out first because this was her mission and fear is for children.

She started dressing in pinks then, soft colors carefully arranged to hide the bruises and scars. It made her feel happy, somehow, to have one distinguishing point between her and her sisters. It was really nothing, but it was something to her.

The first time Ty Lee met Mai, she felt this little flutter in her chest, almost as if she was not alone. She was alone, of course, but Mai made her feel safe for the first time. Those years were warm because her mission was easy and _Mai was there_. Father still called her away for days, sometimes weeks at a time, but it wasn't as if anyone noticed that Ty Lin wasn't Ty Lee. No one saw past the mask, of course; who would ever suspect that Ty Lee was anything more than a ditzy acrobat?

Mai noticed. Mai saw. Mai suspected. And if that didn't make her love Mai just a little more, nothing would. Love is for children, and Ty Lee wanted nothing more than to be childish.

When Azula pulled her pranks and Mai went off to sulk, Ty Lee apologized. She laughed in public, of course, because failure is for children and she is a weapon, not a child, but Mai knew and forgave her anyways. They were everything they shouldn't have been for every reason that rules were in place and they loved it.

The first time Ty Lee ran away was after everything fell apart. Zuko, the heir she actually could stand, was gone, Mai was busy moping, and Azula was growing smugger than ever. So, she ran off to the circus, with the clothes on her back and five gold pieces and a parting hug from Ty Wu.

By the time Azula came to take her away, Ty Lee had spent so much time afraid that there was no real first time anymore. She still joined her, half because she knew what followed in Azula's wake and half because she could see Mai again.

The first time Ty Lee can tell that Mai trusts Azula less than enemy soldiers involves a half-crazy plot to capture the Avatar. Azula was willing to let Tom Tom die for her goal. Mai was not happy about it. Mai had a mask of her own, but Ty Lee _knew_ that she was glad her brother was okay, _saw_ the relief clearer on her face than she had ever seen anything before.

Everything after that was a nightmare cycle of fighting and faking agreement and pretending not to notice their leader's ever-growing insanity. Disobedience is for children, and maybe that's why it all went straight to hell at the Boiling Rock.

Really, it was all Mai's fault. As much as Ty Lee loved her and despite her tendency to act stoic, Mai was the kind of person who places her heart above her head when times got tough. Combined with her crush on Zuko that everyone within six miles could see and hatred for Azula that was far more subtle, the entire situation was a ticking time bomb.

Ty Lee tried to save her, not because she wanted to not be her father's weapon or because it would help her mission but because Mai was her _friend_ and she had precious few of those. One, really, and she was going to end up dying because of her. Friendship is for children and Ty Lee has never been a child.

The first time Ty Lee met the Kyoshi warriors was in prison. The littlest one, Mei, shrunk away from her, back into the small mob that is her sisters-in-arms. There was a lot of yelling that day. Somehow, Ty Lee found the courage to shout, "I tried to kill Azula!" loudly enough to cut over all of their protests. The yells died down. "I tried to kill Azula to save Mai." They asked her why and Ty Lee realized she had no answer.

Those tense weeks taught Ty Lee many things. One was that Kyoshi warriors were idiots. They thought she was a person. When she tried to correct them, Osha looked at her oddly and said nothing. Their insistence that she was not a weapon was almost funny if she didn't think about the implications of her being human and Father knowing. Namely, several war crimes that the Earth Kingdom had been accused of. Another lesson well-taught, if by accident, was that the Kyoshi warriors were children. They had trust and fear and friendship and everything else that had been beaten out of Ty Lee. Mei was _twelve_ , for God's sake, but she had left home without a second thought because Osha was going and she had no one else to stay with. She wasn't even a real warrior if her gasps at Ty Lee saying that the guards _would_ be blind and deaf, permanently, if needed were anything to go by.

The first time Ty Lee really felt free was in the makeup and armor of the Kyoshi warriors. She laughed at the thought of how Father would react if he saw her like this. She was sixteen; it wasn't his decision anymore. The look of fear on Sokka's face when he noticed her was enough to send that joy running far away. Still, she played her part. Bubbly Ty Lee got to be wanted, needed, accepted and loved; the girl underneath was not worth mentioning. Honesty is for children.

The first four months after the war, when she was on Kyoshi Island, were the best four months of her life. It was strange, to be thought of as a person, but definitely not bad. For the first time in her life, she got to be loving and friendly and afraid and honest; it was the most freeing thing she could think of. Still, when one of their girly nights ends in the interrogation method known as Ask Me Anything, she lied anyways.

The question was about first kisses. Suki, blushing, muttered something about George, the first boy she had ever dated and most enthusiastic person in the whole village. Osha said that he had been an Earth Kingdom refugee asking for the ferry. Mei looked at each reply eagerly, as if their half-drunk tales could do anything good. Soon, they were all staring at her and Ty Lee realized that she hadn't answered. She wove a story, simple but not quite true, about Sokka and being disguised in Ba Sing Se. The kisses with Mai didn't count because two girls together didn't count as anything but heresy and the real story about her first kiss and too many kisses after that was so ugly that it would never leave her lips.

The first time anyone heard the whole truth was that night, with Suki and Osha getting her very, very drunk after Mei had gone to sleep and asking very, very patiently. Trust might be for children, but Ty Lee was stupid and let herself trust them anyways. Of course, it followed every other time she had been childish and bit her in the ass. Royally. When she finally got sober, Suki swore herself to secrecy and said that Osha had left halfway through to vomit and never came back. Ty Lee didn't blame her; if she really had said everything, vomiting was a pretty slight reaction. Even if she'd left parts out due to being drunk or still having a little bit of her mind sober, the truth was sickening.

Five months in, Zuko requested that they come to the Fire Nation capital as guards. The war trials were about to begin. For the first time, Ty Lee let herself feel utter terror. It was painful and all-consuming and probably not pretty and childish and definitely against the rules. Suki let her have it anyways and calmed her down when it got really ugly. They went to the capital because Zuko needed all the help he could get and Ty Lee managed to convince everyone, including herself, that she could handle it.

Somehow, she did. There were no more panic attacks, no nervous breakdowns, no difficulties in removing herself mentally from what was going on. Eventually, Zuko had ripped his way through the army generals and faced the inner circle. Father requested her as a character witness. She declined. Defending him implied that something he had done to her, at some point in time, was defensible.

That trial was the ugliest, and not just because it was Father. Father let his cool veneer slide and showed everyone who he really was: a harsh, bitter, angry sociopath who really should not have been put in charge of young recruits and seven children. Ty Wu screamed at him during her testimony. He tried to kill Prince Zuko _twice_. The guilty verdict was no surprise, and it came as a relief when she stopped having to worry about what would happen if Father recognized her.

Everything after that was easier. Mai was happy with Zuko, Azula was far away, Father was gone, and Suki was there. In truth, everything was easier when Suki was around. They traded stories occasionally, about dead mothers and training and fighting and death. They sometimes talked about love, but with Ty Lee's milage and Suki's dedication, it really wasn't anything they have much experience with.

The first time Suki and Ty Lee kissed, it was like everything fell into place. Everything _had_ fallen into place at that point, what with the War being over and all, but it all felt out of sorts until that moment. It made everything still left loose more manageable somehow, and that was something Ty Lee would take and run with.

Hope is for children, love is for children, trust is for children, but they do all three anyways. It's their happy ending, after all; they can spend it however they want.


End file.
